John O’Connell has more than 30 years of leadership experience in both emerging businesses and mature, established organizations. He started his career designing and developing financial applications at Merrill Lynch and KPMG Peat Marwick. He was a member of the team for an IPO, sale of a firm, and packaging 2 other firms for sale. He held North American leadership positions at Oracle for over 8 years. He was the president of a FinTech firm and held C-level customer facing roles at two global, publicly traded companies.
John is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer for The Oasis Group. A firm specializing in helping wealth management and technology firms to solve their most complex challenges. The Oasis Group helps firms with technology selection and implementation, sales processes and strategy, and processes to attract, sell, propose, onboard, and service new clients.
John is the author of Rise of The Activist Investor, a handbook for investors who would like their money to reflect their values by exercising their rights as owners of publicly traded firms. He invented the Activist Investor Arc to describe how retail investors progress through different phases of activist investing.
John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science & Mathematics from the College of Staten Island and an MBA in Finance from Rider University.
Some people have called Ian McKenna the OG of AdviceTech. By the time he established Financial Technology Research Centre in 1995, long before the term “Fintech“ became part of the industry lexicon, he already had two decades of experience in the industry. Having started work with Guardian Royal Exchange in 1974 before mobbing to a London broking firm in 1976 he opened his first independent insurance and financial advice practice in 1981. A parallel entrepreneur, he runs a consulting firm and three Fintech start-ups as well as holding a number of pro bono industry roles.
He has been the U.K.’s leading AdviceTech columnist for over 30 years; the last 27 with Money Marketing (moneymarketing.co.uk), and three before that with FT Adviser.
In 2019, he founded ProtectionGuru.co.uk, a technical information site for life insurance advisers. In 2022 he was given the UK Life Insurance Leader of the Year award by LifeSearch the U.K.’s largest independent life insurance advice firm.
The following year saw the launch of Protection Guru Pro, a value-for-money based life insurance comparison. In July this year Protection Guru Pro completed a hat trick of wins in consecutive years at the European Fintech awards, twice as European InsurTech of the Year and once as Disruptor of the Year. Benefits Guru, a workplace pensions comparison service, was launched in 2020.
In 2021 McKenna launched AdviserSoftware.com, an advice tech review site which now includes analysis of over 250 different advice tech propositions produced by a team of analysts, each with at least a decade experience working in advice firms. In July, he commenced publishing the monthly AdviceTech & AI – Everyone You Need To Know report.
He passionately believes advice tech should be global. While the World Bank recognises that there are 190m+ middle class and above consumers in the US, i.e. the natural target for financial planning, the bank also identifies that there are over 3.8 billion middle class and above consumers globally. McKenna believes there is a massive opportunity to use AdviceTech to make financial planning affordable to that additional 3.6 billion consumers globally and is attending Advise AI to meet with technology providers firms who wish to launch their propositions in other countries around the world.
Ken Lotocki, Chief Product Officer at Conquest, brings nearly two decades of expertise in the financial services technology space, including a wealth of experience in product management and business analysis. As one of Conquest Planning’s founders, Ken plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s product direction and AI strategy. His unwavering dedication and keen eye for innovation have been instrumental in driving Conquest Planning’s growth and success in the dynamic financial technology space. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba.
Michael Kitces is the Chief Financial Planning Nerd at Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning and helping to make financial advisors better and more successful.
In addition, he is the Head of Planning Strategy at Focus Partners Wealth, the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, New Planner Recruiting, fpPathfinder, and FA BeanCounters, the former Practitioner Editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, the host of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, and the publisher of the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View.
In 2010, Michael was recognized with one of the FPA’s “Heart of Financial Planning” awards for his dedication and work in advancing the profession.
Jeremi Karnell is Chief Product Officer at VastAdvisor, the AI-powered organic growth OS for wealth management firms, where he leads product strategy, platform architecture, and the development of VastAdvisor IQ — the platform’s core intelligence layer. He has spent his career at the intersection of financial services, decision intelligence, and applied AI. Jeremi co-founded and served as CEO of Truelytics, the advisor intelligence platform acquired by Envestnet in 2022. At Envestnet, he served as Head of Data and Analytics, building the firm’s decision intelligence practice and launching enterprise AI products — including Generative Business Intelligence and Insights AI — that turned advisor data into actionable opportunities across thousands of workflows. At VastAdvisor, he’s focused on the industry’s most neglected problem: wealth management has spent decades building infrastructure to manage assets, and almost none to grow them.
Thomas Clawson is the Co-Founder of Slant. Slant helps advisors automate critical workflows while building a more personal connection with leads, referrals, and clients.
Prior to starting Slant, Thomas worked at two tech unicorns. He led collectibles marketing at Whatnot and, before that, Demand Generation at Podium. Thomas studied Economics at BYU and currently lives in Utah with his wife and three young daughters. If there is some free time, Thomas enjoys playing ice hockey, making music, and exploring the mountains and National Parks in Utah.
Stephen Chien is a Vice President with LPL’s Artificial Intelligence Accelerator and Head of LPL’s Artificial Intelligence Advisor Solutions.
Stephen previously served as a Managing Director at Charles Schwab for 14 years, equipping financial advisors with new tools and technologies to provide a world-class client experience. Earlier, Stephen served as a product leader at Capital Group and as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.
Stephen is a CFA Charterholder, with a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Richard Chen is a seasoned corporate and securities attorney with more than 25 years of practice under his belt following his graduation from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He is the Founder and President of Brightstar Law Group, a law firm specializing in serving the regulatory and corporate needs of investment advisory firms (including wealth managers, private fund sponsors, and fintech companies). Among other things, Richard’s practice focuses on regulatory matters including investment adviser registration; compliance program development, implementation, and management; mock audits; and SEC examinations and investigations. On the corporate side, Richard’s practice focuses on advising breakaway advisors; launching and structuring ownership for advisory firms; drafting and negotiating commercial contracts; advising on employment matters; advising on mergers and other transactions; succession planning; and launching private funds (such as hedge, private equity, venture capital, and real estate funds). Before launching his practice, Richard spent many years at several preeminent law firms in New York including Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, K&L Gates, Schulte Roth & Zabel, and Arnold & Porter. Please visit his firm’s website and LinkedIn page to learn more about him and his calendar link to schedule time to speak with him.
Justin is the Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Lido Advisors, where he leads growth marketing, brand strategy, communications, and digital initiatives that increase visibility, accelerate business expansion, and advance firmwide strategic objectives. His mandate includes building scalable marketing programs, driving digital transformation, and delivering measurable impact across all channels.
Previously, Justin served as Head of Digital Marketing and a Principal at Cerity Partners, responsible for creating brand awareness and driving sales conversion across B2B and B2C audiences. Before that, he was Head of Digital Marketing at Dynasty Financial Partners, overseeing digital lead generation and the holistic digital presence for Dynasty and its 50+ Network Partner Advisory Firms.
He began his career at LevelUp, a Google Venture, and VMware in Palo Alto, and later worked on social media for Vogue Magazine and the NBA.
Justin earned his Bachelor of Business Administration with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from Northeastern University in Boston. He is also an Advanced Certified Sake Professional and a collector of fine wine, spirits, and other brewed beverages.
Matt Ackermann is chief brand officer at Integrated Partners, where he works to shine a spotlight on the firm’s network of more than 200 financial advisors and thought leaders. He is also the host of the Perfectly Integrated podcast and co-authored the book Center Stage: How to Become the Star of Your Practice.
A veteran of the wealth management industry for more than 25 years, Matt has spent most of his career at various wealth management media outlets creating content that stands out. Before joining Integrated in 2020, he was director of multimedia at InvestmentNews, where he was honored with 15 ASPBE awards for digital content creation, including Practice Makeover, a reality series about helping advisors jumpstart their business, and a documentary on impact investing shot in Haiti that debuted at the United Nations in 2019. Before InvestmentNews, he spent time at Financial Planning, JCPR, American Banker, and the New Jersey Law Journal, where he was honored with the New Jersey Press Association’s “Rookie of the Year” Award in 1997.
People would be surprised to discover Matt has coached baseball and basketball in New Jersey for more than 30 years, accumulating more than 600 wins and three state baseball titles. When he’s not coaching, Matt is spending time with his wife, Marisa, and their two sons, CJ and Ryan. CJ, who is already smarter than his Dad, is a star of the stage in New Jersey and Ryno hopes to someday play catcher for the Baltimore Orioles.